First Entry In A While

Hello everyone. It's been a while since I've had an entry on here. Gosh I'm a different person than from those early entries. Half of the links don't work but I have missed writing. Writing cleanses the mind and I really don't have a path of how this entry will go but it was time to cleanse. 

First, let's start with some not so serious stuff. 2016 me would be in complete shock at where the Bengals are right now. It's amazing how Joe Burrow changed everything about the franchise. The Super Bowl run from a couple years ago was something I will never forget. My dad and I sat through the home games together and saw the first playoff win in 30 + years and these are moments I will never forget. 

I no longer have hatred toward Rick Ross or Miranda Lambert. Many of you who know me know that I was not a fan of these two singers. I didn't like Rick Ross because he stole his name from a drug dealer with the same name. I read more into the story and now I am okay with him. I still don't love all the grunting in rap music though. Miranda, I didn't like for some beef she had with Chris Brown at an awards show and my dislike of her didn't age well. I admit. I actually like her music (and her bar in Nashville). 

Since we last talked I switched jobs. Well, still with Great American, but in a different division and it has been great for me. My friends from the old stomping grounds are still around and I am grateful for my 10 years there, but it was time to move on. Shout out to Hot Take Row (K-Bone, Pins, Hosscat, and Zachary), Chip, Big Jake, JP, Amanda, Mindy, Elaine, my dancing buddy Rick, Gina, Vernita, Joe, Greg, Brigger and so many others who made my time there so much better and I stayed as long as I did for you guys.  It was time to start a new chapter, but doesn't the saying go, "Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver, the other is gold"? 

In 2020, Covid was wild huh? I wonder what they will write about that in 100 years. The first half I just kept getting bigger and bigger, but there was nothing else to do, well except lose weight. Some of my best friends decided to do a weight loss challenge (Brad, Justin and Diesel), and I had a personal challenge. If you are a loyal reader, you know about my type 1 diabetes and let's face it, if I eat terribly, I'm not going to be around as long as I'd like. I decided to hit the pavement. No matter what, every day I made sure to get 10,000 steps. I made some diet change and lost 30 pounds. I slipped off the wagon just a bit, but I'm hoping to get back to my best form. 

There are a few changes coming to my life that I'm not ready to talk about on here but I do want to say, I have an amazing group of friends and family whom I love and I want to end this entry with some advice. There is no point in being pessimistic. You only have a certain amount of time on this planet. Don't hold grudges. Let little things go. Life is hard. It's complex and it doesn't slow down. There are no days off. Be kind. Forgive. And Love.  Life is too damn short. Find what makes you happy and do it, whether it be pickleball (an example for me [shoutout to Chris, Ray and Kim]) or sitting under a tree while there is a breeze. Whatever it is do it. Unless its fentanyl or heroin, maybe don't do that. 

Now for some awards (old school blog tradition):

Winner of the Day: Paulie Walnuts

My Dog walked his fastest mile ever today (19 min) so I'm proud of him. He's a good boy.

Loser of the Day: Kenny Pickett

Last week Ben Roethlisberger was talking smack about him, then I guess his car got stolen with his Steelers playbook in it by someone while he was doing a radio interview... my two cents (it's Bill Belichick or Ben).

Song of the Day: "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" by Travis Tritt

Why? because I'm sitting here writing this and  came on and it fit my theme of the final paragraph of my entry. 

Quote of the Day: “Find the good. It’s all around you. Find it, showcase it, and you’ll start believing it.”-Jesse Owens

Type 1 Diagnosis Story

Don't Call It A Comeback, Top 5 Celebrities that will make your Christmas Party More Eventful

I have blogged off and on since way back in 2005 on Myspace. I came across some of my old posts today, from those old blogs and thought I'd dust off the old keys on this laptop and write a bit. David's Brain, the V.I.P. section hit it's peak in 2011 when I wrote almost daily. I would come on here off and on to talk about sports, write my own lyrics to popular songs or bring awareness to type one diabetes. Since 2011, I've somehow gotten over 32,000 views with no real topic for my posts.  

If your only outlet to this world is reading my blogs, then I am sorry I haven't had a post since April 26, 2017 and that was a tiny blog about ESPN Layoffs. There are broken links, pictures and gifs throughout my blogs, but I don't think they change the points of the blogs I used to write. I want to start keeping up with this regularly again. I may bring back my winners and losers of the day as that was a popular section of my blogs.  I would also do top 5 lists which I want to bring back starting today. To get back into the groove, let's do a top 5. Today, I am going to do:

 Top 5 Celebrities Who Would Make Your Christmas Party More Eventful

Honorable Mentions

Charlie Sheen

I didn't say it was going to be legal. Just eventful.  Can you imagine doing white elephant with this guy in your circle? You could open the gift and it could be a hooker or a block of cocaine.

Deion Sanders

When I was growing up, this man could do no wrong.  He was good and he'd tell you he was too. He would high step right into your party and make you dance to Christmas Rappin' by Kurtis Blow.

Top Five

5. Guy Fieri

If you know me, you know it is in my mind Guy Fieri is a partying machine.  I once had a friend that no matter what you did when you went out with him, it would be one of the craziest nights of your life. That's what it would be like if your Christmas Party went to Flavortown. Fieri would tell his cheesy one line jokes while slamming your egg nog and stealing your girl. 

4. Miley Cyrus

Eventful is not always a good thing. As I think Guy would be a trip, Miley coming to your party would be a trip... to the ER. She does all of this for attention and she is the cliche child star head case, girl was known to throw it down at parties. She'd come in like a wrecking ball and "do what she wants." Chestnuts won't be the only nuts roasting on an open fire if you invite Miley.

3. Justin Bieber

I'd be lying if I didn't used to think this kid was a douchebag who did bad things just to be the cool kid. I think he egged Keyshaun Johnson's house or something like that, and I know he's been busted for street races, and I know he's been a jackass and the butt of many jokes but I actually think he'd be fun to have a Christmas party with. I could see myself now trying to do the Ludacris part from "Baby" with my wife looking at me like, "Dave, don't embarrass me in front of the Biebs like that."

2. Ocho Cinco

Okay, I'm kind of being a homer here, but here me out (or really read me out). This guy single handedly brought fun back to being a Bengals fan.  He made it fun. If he can make a stale team with a stale owner cool, what could this man do for your Christmas party? On the 5th day of Christmas Ocho would bring you Five Golden Teeth. He wouldn't take anything too seriously and he would be cool if you catered McDonald's. No need to get fancy with him. You doubt this decision? Child please.

1. Tommy Wiseau

So this guy is still Hollywood's biggest mystery. They made a movie about him because he made the worst movie ever made. He spent millions on making "The Room" and no one knows how he made his fortune, where he's from or how old he is. This guy would drop dollars on your party and you could party in style.  Santa may not be played by the best of actors (Tommy may want to do it himself) but this guy is so strange, all of your guest will leave the party more puzzled than when they met this man.  If you haven't seen The Disaster Artist or The Room, both are must sees.

Winner of the Day: The Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball Team. On a night where their team honored former coach Bobby Huggins, the team dismantled the UCLA Bruins on national TV to show they may be a force to be dealt with come tournament time.

Loser of the Day: Jake Walter. Son of former Bengals player Joe Walter, Jake, a 7 foot center for Cov Cath was destined to go to Xavier, however he never enrolled. Turns out a couple of weekends ago, Walter is alleged to have raped someone against their will using his size to not let her go and laughed and said something like you will get over it. 

Link to the cincinnati.com article

Quote of the Day: "You gotta have life your way. If you ain't losing your mind, you ain't partying right."

Song of the Day: The Christmas Guest by Reba McIntire

Photoshop of the Day: 

#ESPNLayoffs

Around 100 on air personalities let go by ESPN. Layoffs are horrible. Anywhere. You may love some of them and hate others but say a prayer for their families. ESPN made their money based on cable subscription and less and less people are getting cable. They paid huge contracts to NBA, NFL, the SEC and MLB because the formula always worked and now they are letting go many good people because of it. It is a sad day for those who lost their jobs do to the carelessness of the big wigs. Dusty Baker, love him or hate him, always said, "You are never as good as you think you are and you are never as bad as you think you are." ESPN could not stay on top for ever. It just sucks to see so many fall for the bad deals they made. People get their sports online now and through clips. No one watches SportsCenter anymore and they didn't see it coming upstairs. It's a shame. Thinking of the families of those who lost their jobs at ESPN or anywhere for that matter. 🙏🏼

Another Diabetes Frustration Blog.

Somebody cure juvenile diabetes already, jeeze. The problem is the diabetes industry is a billion dollar business. What motivates people to cure the disease?

If you don't have it, you may not be as motivated to look for a cure because it is such a money maker but the truth is juvenile diabetes is one of the worst diseases you can have and it is under appreciated. We fight every day. We are tough. We get zero breaks and zero good night's sleep. We could take too much of our medicine and seize or pass out. If we don't take enough, over time, our organs will fail and our nerves will disturb our feet. We could die any day we don't take care of ourselves. Diabetes could be the death penalty or life in prison.

I had gotten sick from my asthma this week and had to take prednisone to help me get better. The prednisone makes my blood sugar rise and it made it go so high my meter didn't even read the number. Diabetes is scary. Every day. And it's not always my fault. Stress, exercise and even excitement can effect sugar levels. No one sees the daily grind of what we go through: constant needle pricks, needles and set changes. I laugh when I go to the doctor and they ask if I'm afraid of needles. 

I've lived with diabetes since 1997 which means I've had it longer than I haven't. Some days you just want to give up and there have been days when the disease nearly over took me. I am thankful for the support I've had in my life that help me through the tougher times. The medicine that keeps us alive keeps rising in price and it's not like we can go without it. 

And it's not fair, I'm not asking for sympathy, just an honest effort at a cure. Since 1997, when my doctor told me there would be a cure in my lifetime, there have been many false alarms but now I am beginning to believe it will never come. I believe so many dollars would be lost. If they cured it and not to mention so many diabetics how long would the waiting list be for the said cure?

Life Under Trump

Life, under Trump, or any president of the United States of America, for that matter, is what you make it. If you supported Clinton, Sanders, Bush, Rubio, Cruz, or anyone else, this is who is the president. This is still the land of the free. Trump does not have absolute power. Life is what you make it. If you want to make this a miserable country by rioting and stating he's not your president, that's on you. Rioting does nothing but take down businesses that worked hard to get where they are. Some of them, started from the bottom, and worked their way up to owning their own store. The "American Dream" some call it. Some are still pursuing that dream. 

The Declaration of Independence says life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Donald Trump will not stop you from pursuing that. You may have to work even harder to obtain that dream, but that's in your hands. I have not stopped pursuing my dreams even though the prices of insulin have gone up 1000 percent and I need that to live. I have gotten no help from government on this front and guess what, it's not stopping me from getting married this June and starting a new chapter. 

Donald Trump is the president now and I am not going to cry about it. I will adapt and overcome. If Donald Trump is "not (your) president" then who is?

Lost Boy The Hood Version

I am a lost boy from Neverland
Usually hanging out with Peter Pan
And when we're bored we play in the woods
Always on the run from Captain Hook
"Run, run, lost boy, " they say to me,
"Away from all of reality."

I am a lost boy,
From Neverland,
At least thats what I dream about,
I'm from the hood no reason to pout
Lucky to get a toy,
Sometimes the belt,
sometimes the hand,
Gotta be strapped if you go out,
Coming home tonight, there's doubt,
Why can't I go to Neverland,
Hang with Peter Pan,

I am a lost boy from Neverland
Usually hanging out with Peter Pan
And when we're bored we play in the woods
Always on the run from Captain Hook
"Run, run, lost boy, " they say to me,
"Away from all of reality."

R.I.P. to homie Harambe,
shows you if you don't watch out, 
you'll be a zombie,
Those kinda shootings happened 
every day on the block
mid afternoon, didn't matter 
sh*t going down at 2 o clock
I wish I were in Neverland 
where gorillas don't get shot,
where the good people last 
and the bad guys get caught,

I am a lost boy from Neverland
Usually hanging out with Peter Pan
And when we're bored we play in the woods
Always on the run from Captain Hook
"Run, run, lost boy, " they say to me,
"Away from all of reality."

I'll take down Capn' Hook 
with my gang banger skills,
Hang with the Lost Boys
and they don't pop pills,
Like the dudes in the streets, 
hustlins all i see,
if I stay much longer
 I may end up like Harambe,
Shot because I'm not on the right street,
Shot because I'm not quick on my feet,


Please let me get to Neverland,
I wanna roll with Peter Pan,
and try to take out Captain Hook,
And write a new ending to my book,
I been spending most my life,
Living in a Gangsta's Paradise.
Because I'm 23 now, will I live to see 24
The way things is goin I don't know...

I am a lost boy from Neverland
Usually hanging out with Peter Pan
And when we're bored we play in the woods
Always on the run from Captain Hook
"Run, run, lost boy, " they say to me,
"Away from all of reality."